


Surprenez-Moi

by HansBlanke



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Curtain Fic, Cute, M/M, Pre-Slash, Reading Aloud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 16:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17328605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HansBlanke/pseuds/HansBlanke
Summary: Working together and knowing each other personally are two different things. Sisko is not going to stop at the former.





	Surprenez-Moi

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Surprenez-Moi](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/447089) by Hans Blanke. 



> I was like, what the hell, why would anyone ship them. And now I'm like, WHAT THE HELL WHY AIN'T ANYBODY SHIPPING THEM. Otp.  
> Kindly beta'd by nprose.

The Commander almost always invited new officers to his quarters, but not all of them were as reluctant to put aside their position as Michael Eddington, the new security chief. It was common to think of security officers as unsociable workaholics, but not all of them lived up to the stereotype. Eddington looked no different at dinner than he had at the briefing and never diverted from work topics. Sisko resolved that moving aside Eddington’s mask of strictness would be a personal challenge for him, and mentally kept his fingers crossed: if he only got a chance, he would not waste it.

He had to wait. Had he not, he might not have noticed the human tone in Eddington’s voice when he finally put down his fork and said, “Well, Commander, you know how to handle people. Parole d'honneur, I haven’t eaten like this… it must be about two years by now. Maybe I can return the favour somehow?”

“Surely you can.” Benjamin leaned back and closed his eyes, looking pleased. “Could we, for instance, spend half an hour talking about something else besides work?”

He spoke softly, almost jokingly, knowing that his words were a step onto Eddington’s territory. Such an offer might offend some of his fellow officers, even if they had worked with him for a long time.

“I can’t begin to work without knowing what I’m dealing with andthe state of station security.” Eddington distanced himself again immediately. It was as if Sisko was talking to a computer panel.

“Do you have all the information you need?” The Commander asked politely.

“I do, sir.” The other man said. It was almost as if he was going to say, _yes sir_. After a second or two, though, his face showed some understanding. “You’re right, sir. In that case, it would be appropriate to change the subject. I hope I wasn’t too boring.”

“No, no.” Sisko allowed himself to smile. “What were you saying about returning the favour? Go ahead, surprise me. Out here, that won’t be hard.”

“I can’t say I’m a man of many talents.” Eddington said, very dignified but curving the corner of his mouth slightly. “Except maybe… Do you know anything about French?”

“I know it exists.” Sisko spread his arms. “If you wish to enlighten me…”

The man in front of him changed, as if he had said cast a spell. Where was the Lieutenant Commander gone, the one who could only talk about his duties? Where had this bright-eyed young boy come from?

“It’s one of the most beautiful languages in Earth’s history,” Eddington said passionately. “Everything becomes… smooth. A soft  _chocolat_  for chocolate; it  _sounds_  sweet, doesn’t it?” He swallowed, as if the word did have the taste of chocolate. He was either overacting or being very sincere. “But its phonetics is like the mafia, you can’t do anything right if you don’t know the rules. The intuition of a native Standard speaker won’t help you. Standard is an artificial language, and French is quite real and living. May I?” He reached for a padd lying on the table. After a nod from Sisko, he tapped at the screen and showed it to him.  _Eau._

“One of my favourite words. It means  _water_. How would you pronounce it?”

“Not knowing the rules?” Sisko smiled. “After you’ve warned me, I wouldn’t dare to try.”

“ _O._ ”

“And that’s it?”

“And that’s it.” Eddington was awfully pleased with himself.

Sisko shook his head. “Fascinating.” A sudden smile bloomed on his lips. “But that’s just a drop in the ocean, right? And I can see that you can talk about it for hours. Care to read something?” He motioned at the padd.

“Out loud?” Doubt replaced the fire of enthusiasm in his eyes. “I learned the language for Hugo, but that’s no easy reading. Maybe next time?”

“Maybe next time.” Sisko agreed peacefully.

“And in the meanwhile, I can get you something easy, something that won’t be scary for you. Prose or poetry?” It was hard to believe your eyes. The “unsociable” security officer had actually cracked a smile. “When you speak about French, what comes to your mind first is poetry.”

“And when you speak of French poetry, what comes to your mind first is love poetry.” Sisko chuckled.

“And I know quite a bit of it,” the other man added.

“And you’re willing to recite some to me?”

Eddington’s generally reserved demeanour contrasted very much with the the sincerity that he allowed to surface now and then. He froze at Sisko’s words and muttered, trying his best to keep his tone robotic as usual, “Did it sound like that, sir? I meant no such thing. I’m sorry if I have gone too far.”

Sisko waved his hand. “Nevermind. As a matter of fact, I am tempted to say that you’ve gone just far enough.” Eddington seemed shocked with the very idea, so Sisko added quickly, “But in that case, it would be me overstepping. Let’s stick with some prose.”

“Indeed.” Eddington nodded, looking very serious. Then he finally let himself relax and glanced around, as if looking for something to help him keep the conversation neutral. “Maybe there is a known story I wouldn’t have to translate. I may know the language, but I’m no interpreter.”

“There should be stories of that kind in any literature,” Sisko commented, interested but with noidea of what to say next. “Legends? Fairy tales?”

“Perrault,” Eddington said excitedly. “We must have something in the computer.”

Sisko waved at his terminal. Eddington seemed to know what he was looking for. It took him half a minute of scanning to make sure he’d made the right choice. He sat down again and cleared his throat shyly.

Sisko turned off his translator, and his ears were flooded with a honey wave of almost recognisable sounds… which made no sense now as he’d already forgotten which tale he was listening to, but were beautiful on their own, like music.

He stopped thinking, and began to listen. This was exactly what he loved about “fraternising” with his crew. The next day, they might meet in a conference hall, or in the Ops, or perhaps in battle, and look at each other like a Commander and a security officer. But Siskoknew that there was something else behind the mask they all wore while on duty, and that Eddington was no exception.

A lazy thought crossed his mind. Could he consider the words about “next time” and Hugo a deal?

Because he was already looking forward to “next time”.


End file.
